Leavine Family Racing

Leavine Family Racing (formerly Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing and originally Leavine Fenton Racing) is an American professional stock car racing team that as of 2018 competes in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Owned by Sharon and Bob Leavine, the team is headquartered in Tyler, Texas, but operates its racing team from a shop in Concord, North Carolina. In 2016, longtime NASCAR team owner Joe Falk became part of the ownership group, merging his Circle Sport operation with LFR, however as the 2016 season came to an end, Falk left the team securing his charter, and causing LFR to purchase a charter from Tommy Baldwin Racing.

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In 2016, CSLFR, as part of the Circle Sport merger, agreed to have Ty Dillon drive the No. 95 for the 2016 Daytona 500. McDowell would attempt the race in a second entry, the No. 59 Thrivent Financial / K-Love Chevy. McDowell qualified the 500 by finishing 14th in his Can-Am Duel race. McDowell had a commendable finish in the car during the Daytona 500, finishing 15th. This was the only start in 2016 for the No. 59 other than the season finale at Homestead. Before the weekend, the team acquired a charter from the No. 7 team of Tommy Baldwin Racing, which guaranteed the No. 59 a spot in the race. The car finished 10th in the race, after avoiding a big crash that took out the teammate's No. 95 car with just a few laps left in the race.

Founded as Leavine Fenton Racing by Bob Leavine and Lance Fenton in early 2011, the team planned to compete on a limited basis in the Sprint Cup Series and Camping World Truck Series, with David Starr competing in the former for six events and Fenton driving in the latter for three.[2] Based in Tyler, Texas but with its race shop in Concord, North Carolina,[3] the team made its debut in the Cup Series at Texas Motor Speedway in April of that year;[4] Starr qualified for the race, his first in Sprint Cup competition, and finished 38th following an accident.[5]

In August 2012 LFR announced that it had re-signed Speed for the 2013 Sprint Cup Series season, intending to run 28 events on the 36 race schedule.[12] The team had its best finish at the 2013 Aaron's 499 with a ninth-place finish, however they started and parked most other events. Speed left the team after the Atlanta race, citing his frustration with the team's starting and parking and hinting that the plan had been to run more full races. He was replaced on an interim basis by Reed Sorenson.[13]

In October 2013, Leavine Family Racing announced that Michael McDowell would drive the team's No. 95 Ford Fusion Cup Series entry in 2014.[14] They ran 20 of the 36 races. On January 28, 2014, Leavine announced that KLOVE, Thrivent Financial, and several other sponsors would sponsor all 20 scheduled races in the 2014 Sprint Cup season. The sponsorship meant the team would be able to run full races, and enabled it to form an alliance with Team Penske.

At the 2014 Coke Zero 400, McDowell and Leavine Family Racing finished their career-best with a 7th-place finish in the rain-shortened event. The team's performance was much improved with the Penske alliance, and additional sponsorship allowed the team to run seven of the final eight events, and 22 in total. The team finished 43rd in owners points.

McDowell returned in 2015, as did K-LOVE and Thrivent. The team once again planned to run at least 20 races, and maintained its Penske alliance. McDowell was able to make the Daytona 500, a race he had failed to qualify for in 2014. The team posted four DNQs in 2015, three of which were due to rainouts and an increase in full-time entries. In early summer, the team made the news in unfortunate fashion after part of their shop burned down. This forced them to take refuge on the Team Penske campus, inside their former sports car shop, until their own facility was repaired enough for them to return.[15] The team ultimately slipped slightly to 44th in owner points, but did finish ahead of the No. 62, a team that attempted all 36 races.

In January 2016, longtime NASCAR team owner Joe Falk became an investor in LFR and the team switched to Chevrolet. Falk brought a charter granted to him, to the No. 95 team, guaranteeing the 95 its first full season of racing. The team formed an alliance with Richard Childress Racing. The No. 95 attempted all 36 races, with McDowell returning to run in at least 26 events with sponsorship from K-Love and Thrivent, and Ty Dillon driving in at max 10 races, with sponsorship from General Mills and AstraZeneca. McDowell ran the majority of the events,[16][17][18] and ran the Daytona 500 in a second entry, the No. 59.

On September 19, 2017, LFR announced former Hendrick Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne would be replacing McDowell in the No. 95 for the 2018 season.[19] On August 16, 2018, Kahne announced that he will step away from full time competition at the end of the year.[20][21] On September 6, 2018, after heat exhaustion from the Southern 500, Kahne announced that he would sit out the Brickyard 400, which became the first race he missed since he began his full-time Cup Series career. Regan Smith took the wheel of the No. 95 car in Kahne's absence.[22] On October 9, Kahne announced that he will miss the rest of the season due to lingering medical conditions.[23]

On October 10, 2018, Matt DiBenedetto signed a two-year contract with LFR to drive the No. 95 starting in 2019. In addition, LFR will switch from Chevrolet to Toyota while entering a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing.[1] At the 2019 Daytona 500, DiBenedetto led an impressive 49 laps before Paul Menard spun him from behind, triggering "The Big One" that claimed 21 cars and resulting in DiBenedetto finishing 28th.

In October 2013, LFR announced that they would be adding a Nationwide Series team to the team's operations, with the No. 95 Ford Mustang being driven by Reed Sorenson in selected races late in the 2013 season, with a full-time driver for the 2014 season to be announced.[24] However, the team has yet to field a car in the Nationwide Series (now the Xfinity Series).